Hard to believe that another week has passed, but what a beautiful week it has been. The drop in the temperature has given everything a bit more energy, and I am grateful for some sunny days after that wild wind storm on Wednesday!

At our Town Board Meeting on Tuesday evening, we were able to offer our thanks to Eagle Scout Chris Krajca for his outstanding service project at Gerlach Park. In case you missed the ceremony on Sunday, Chris built and dedicated a lovely sitting area in remembrance of his friend's father, Gary Haag, and three other Ossining and Briarcliff residents who tragically lost their lives on September 11th, 2001. It was an incredibly moving gesture, and we were glad to have Chris and his parents be recognized by the Town Board. Way to go, Chris!

As you may know, our Planning Board Chair Ingrid Richards has resigned and presided over her last meeting this past Wednesday.

The Town has decided to solicit applications for a new Planning Board Chair. The ideal candidate will have a background in land use law/ land use planning, civil engineering, or another applicable skill set, and will be available for regular evening meetings and occasional meetings with applicants. The successful candidate must also be a resident of the Unincorporated Area of the Town of Ossining.

If you are interested in applying, please submit a letter of interest and a resume /CV to Maddi Zachacz in the Supervisor's Office on the 3rd Floor of 16 Croton Avenue by Friday, October 14th, 2016, or submit by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Until such time as a new Planning Board Chair is selected, Zoning Board of Appeals Member Ching Wah Chin has volunteered to step in as Acting Chair. The Town Board plans to appoint him to this temporary position at their September 20th Town Hall Meeting.

Don't forget, the applications for those eligible for the reassessment "phase-in" are due by 4:30PM this Thursday, September 15th, so make sure to give yourself enough time to get it in before the deadline.

If you did not receive an application in the mail, but believe you are eligible, you can find it pdf
here
(147 KB) or in hard copy at 16 Croton Avenue.

We have had a very exciting, albeit short, week in the Town of Ossining. The energy is high, as everyone is getting adjusted to new school schedules and has come back to work after vacations, well rested and ready to get to work for our residents.

Our Work Session on Tuesday was a productive one-- among other agenda items, we heard from our Superintendent of Highways, Michael G. O'Connor, who has recommended that the next road in our paving program should be Grandview Avenue. Grandview is just across Narragansett Avenue from Veteran's Park, and is split between the Town and Village. The Village has also committed to paving their half, and we are excited to share that this project will be done before winter using CHIPS and PaveNY monies. We are pleased to be able to get this work done for our residents, and are exploring what other roads in the Unincorporated Area should be next on the list. We also had a visit from our Planning Consultant, David Stolman of F.P. Clark, who is drafting a local law for the Board to consider that proposes a variety of zoning changes in certain neighborhoods throughout the Town. The analysis that led to this proposed law can be found here, and the draft local law, although a work in progress, can also be found here. We expect more progress on this in the coming weeks, and hope to hold a Public Hearing on the local law sometime in late September.

I also want to share that we had a meeting today with staff from LiveOnNY, with whom we are partnering on Organ Donor Enrollment Day, and they shared with us some incredible statistics. Did you know that New York State ranks #50 in the nation for organ donor enrollment? Did you know that out of 120,000 Americans waiting for organs, 10% are New Yorkers? It is up to us to encourage our family and friends to help turn this around. I hope you will join Team Ossining on October 6th, 2016 to help make New York and Ossining proud and get out and register. We will keep you posted with more information as we get closer to the big day, but check out EnrollmentDay.org for more information, and check out this great video to see the impact of last year's Enrollment Day.

As we speak, I am doing some calf stretches to prepare for one of my favorite Ossining events of the year, the Ossining Matters 5K 2M Run/Walk! I hope you will join me for this awesome community tradition and sweat for a good cause! You can still register at the Community Center tonight between 6PM and 8PM, and tomorrow morning between 7:30AM and 8:30AM.